


Make a Man Out of You (Mulan)

by melicitysmoak



Series: OliciTales [4]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), Mulan (1998)
Genre: Angst and Feels, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Disney movie AU, F/M, FBI agents, Modern fairy tale version, Romance, Suspense, a little bit of action, no Green Arrow, no gambit, olicity au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-27
Updated: 2020-03-03
Packaged: 2021-02-17 21:49:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21583660
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/melicitysmoak/pseuds/melicitysmoak
Summary: Oliver Queen is the leader of the BAU, and Felicity Smoak is a member of his team as their technical analyst.  They are both FBI agents who have agreed to carry on a romantic relationship alongside their professional one.  Everything goes according to plan until Felicity volunteers for a mission, which Oliver vehemently refuses.  She thinks he is being stubbornly unreasonable because she is the only woman on the team, but for Oliver, it's goes much deeper than that.[Contemporary Olicity version of the Disney movies Mulan 1 & 2]
Relationships: Oliver Queen & Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak
Series: OliciTales [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1541407
Comments: 14
Kudos: 102





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LIngall](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LIngall/gifts).



> As the fourth story in this series, this too is a modern adaptation of the story of Mulan. It won't follow the plot of the animated films per se, just the overall theme and basic premise. I hope you enjoy this one, too. As for me, I hope I get to finish this one too before Arrow comes to a close. Happy reading! And Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate. Enjoy this gift I am posting for your reading pleasure. :-)
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Arrow or Mulan and its characters, just the idea for this fic.
> 
> Llngall, thank you for reading my stories and always encouraging me with your comments. I hope you enjoyed Thanksgiving with your family, chores included. :-)

“Excuse me?!!” Felicity protested.

Everybody in the briefing room knew that she wasn’t asking their team leader a simple question for clarification. Her loud voice was proof enough. The way she held her ground, with her hands planted firmly on her hips, said as much. Posturing just a few feet in front of her six-foot-tall superior, she looked as if she could take him on if the confrontation escalated from a heated argument to a more physical one. The rest of the team faded wordlessly into the background as they witnessed the stare down.

In all fairness, they were well aware that by now, Agent Smoak had acquired the necessary skills to physically put up a good fight against Agent Queen if she needed to. In fact, she might even win, like she did in some of their sparring sessions. None of them dared to get in her way when she was provoked and infuriated this way. None of them risked getting caught in the middle of a Queen-Smoak scuffle. So, they all trickled out of the small, cramped briefing room without actually being dismissed. Being the last person to leave, Agent Diggle gave his best friend one last glare – a fair warning, so to speak – before shutting the door behind him.

Obviously, Agent Queen had infuriated his female team member with the decision he’d made concerning the mission that was to go down later that night, a mission that barely included her, even if she had volunteered for it. He now faced the consequences of that decision, which he had already announced to the team. His next mistake was not heeding this best friend’s warning.

“Agent Smoak, you are _not_ going on this mission as bait, and that’s final.” He looked down at her with an unperturbed gaze of steel. He hated it most when she was being stubborn, even when she was right about things (most of the time). “Now stand down,” he added.

The redness of indignation crept upwards from her neck to her face as she glared back at him with the same measure of adamant zeal. “No, I won’t!” Felicity yelled. “Not until you tell me why you can’t treat me like one of the guys in the team. I’ve worked really hard to get to where I am, Oliv— Sir. I’ve been training with Agent Diggle, and with you, for almost a year now, and I can hold my own. This won’t be my first time in the field, and you know it. I am not a porcelain doll, for crying out loud!” She was crying out loud.

“I know you are not a porcelain doll or damsel in distress, Felicity. But the Star City Slayer… He’s the most dangerous serial killer the Bureau has ever had to go after. I am not _that_ desperate to risk sending _you_ out there when the chances of catching this unsub are almost nil.”

“Why? Because I’m a woman? That is so old school! Agent Queen, just in case you hadn’t noticed – but I’m sure you have, since you were the one that profiled him – this unsub targets women, blondes specifically, which makes _me_ the perfect, most logical choice for--”

Exasperated, Oliver interrupted her furious rambling. “It’s not about you being a woman, nor is it about the color of your hair. It’s because it’s _you_!” he yells, louder than ever. It startled Felicity and rendered her momentarily speechless.

He shut his eyes and pressed his lips together, regretting his excessive outburst. It took him a few seconds to get back some semblance of composure, and then he spoke again, this time with a bit more restraint and with a pleading tone. “I can’t… I can’t lose you.” It was a whisper, almost like a prayer.

Oliver tried to reach out to her, but Felicity flinched. She blinked, and then she looked down, sadness written all over her face.

Somehow, deep down inside her, Felicity had suspected that this was about _them_. But she did not want to admit it, much less confess it. She did not want to have to accuse him of being so selfish that he would rather let another family lose a loved one than allow himself to lose her. Tears began to cloud her vision, and by the time she looked up at him, a teardrop had escaped her eye.

“Oliver…” She decided to drop the formality and call him by name. “You can’t make decisions on the job based on your feelings or personal reasons. You ought to know better. We talked about this, remember?” 

She took a deep breath. “Maybe this… _us?_ Maybe this is a mistake.”

Somewhere between the first day they’d met when she had been assigned by Director Michaels as the technical analyst for the Behavioral Analysis Unit of the FBI, Oliver’s team, and the day they had decided to break all the unofficial and unspoken rules about on-the-job relationships at the Bureau, Oliver and Felicity had fallen for each other. It could be attributed to several factors, really. One in particular was Felicity’s weakness for the heroic type of guy that was willing to make sacrifices for the greater good. Of course, it had helped that Oliver was just as attractive and appealing as he was heroic. Another was Oliver’s affectionate appreciation for the brilliant and headstrong type of girl that did not get easily intimidated by assertive leaders like him, and whose endearing sense of humor and light disposition constantly drew him out of his brooding episodes. Of course, it had certainly helped that Felicity was just as kinesthetic and physically fit as she was intellectually – a very desirable quality that Oliver had discovered up close and personal during the times when they’d started training together after she had been injured with a gunshot wound to the shoulder during her second stint in the field. In time, they had discovered that they were each other’s light. They could no longer deny the feelings they had for each other. Deciding to take the leap of faith, against the advice of some of their closest friends and colleagues, they had started a romantic relationship alongside their professional one, determined to prove that they both had what it took to make it work.

Except, now they both felt like it had been a bad idea.

“You’re right,” Oliver conceded easily. “This _is_ a mistake.” 

He bowed his head, unable to look further at the woman he loved so much. How did this happen? He had intentionally declined the plan to use her to draw out the Star City Slayer because he was afraid to lose her in the process, yet it seemed he was still going to lose her anyway. 

By the time he looked up to see how Felicity was taking this new development in their relationship (or not), she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is how I thought the Cast of Characters to be:  
> Felicity Smoak = Fa Mulan  
> Oliver Queen = Li Shang  
> John Diggle = a different kind of Mushu  
> Roy Harper, Rory Regan, and Rene Ramirez = Ling, Chien-po, and Yao  
> Lyla Michaels = the Emperor & the Matchmaker


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Felicity is just as stubborn as him. Why is he not surprised?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After a long wait... here is the second and final update for this story. I'm so sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoy how this fic ends.

“No… Oh God, please, no…”

Those were the anxious words that filled his troubled mind, but the angry cuss word that instinctively escaped his trembling lips was loud and scary enough to startle the rest of the team who were inside the unmarked FBI van.

Oliver and his team had spotted a suspicious-looking, middle-aged man that fit the profile of the serial killer they’d been chasing for weeks, which the press and law enforcement have nicknamed the Star City Slayer. They had first spotted him seated on a bench at the food court near a women’s boutique, where Agent Sara Lance, who had been brought in from the missing persons division of the FBI, had been undercover as a sales clerk since the afternoon shift change in store personnel. Agent Lance had closed shop and made her way to the elevators that led to the multi-level parking garage, and she had confirmed via comms that the un-sub had indeed been trailing her. Felicity had concurred, as she followed Agent Lance’s movement on her computer screen at her cubicle back in FBI headquarters. Supposedly. 

Things had started to go south when they’d lost visual on the un-sub, who must have had technical know-how and temporarily disabled the mall’s security cameras. When Felicity hacked into the system and restored the live feeds, the un-sub was nowhere to be found. Oliver and Agent Diggle had rushed to the location where Agent Lance’s signal was still transmitting, and they had found her lying unconscious on the floor just outside the elevator on the third level of the parking garage. 

The team could have wondered why the un-sub would knock his intended victim unconscious and then just leave her, but Oliver and John had known better. Someone might have interrupted him, saving Agent Lance from danger. The scene bore multiple evidences of a struggle, but when Oliver spotted a pair of dark-rimmed glasses with shattered lenses, his heart had sunk.

“Why can’t she just obey orders? Why does she have to be so stubborn?” Oliver had muttered to himself, but loud enough for John to hear. His clenched fists had been ready to punch the wall.

“You have to admit. She’s not much different from you in that respect,” John remarked, with a click of his tongue. Oliver could have argued with him, but Agent Lance needed attention, so he had held his tongue.

When the rest of the team arrived, Oliver had given orders for Roy and Rene to stay with Sara, call an ambulance for her, and have a back-up team of agents and the SCPD dispatched to follow them to whatever destination the un-sub would take them. He and John had taken the team’s van and had Agent Holt tag along because they needed someone whose tech skills were better than theirs in order to complete this operation, which had just also become a rescue mission. The Star City Slayer now had abducted one of their own, and they needed to stay focused if they were going to get Agent Smoak back in one piece, because yes, they knew too well that the notorious serial killer had never disposed of any of his poor victims that way.

* * *

Oliver stared at the blinking red light on the laptop screen that Agent Holt was monitoring. It was a tiny dot, but it was his lifeline of hope that he would ever see the love of his life again. Alive. They had to get her back alive.

“I gotta say…” Agent Hold began to speak – or ramble, rather. “Agent Smoak is quite the brave and the brilliant. Not the average FBI tech analyst, all things considered. It’s true what I’ve been hearing about her after all. She can hold her own. I know I’m new to the team, sir, and I haven’t really seen her spar with you or Agent Diggle, but tackling the un-sub in that parking garage, and risking her own safety to save Agent Lance? That’s on the level of heroic. And this here? It’s pretty clever. She even had the presence of mind to put a tracker on her and activate it when she was taken! Too bad she’s also blonde.”

“Shut up, Curtis!” Oliver hissed, glaring at the newest member of his team. “Just keep your eyes on the tracker, and make sure you are staying in touch with the back-up team and the SCPD.” His heart thumped inside his chest as he scolded his agent and considered his words at the same time. In spite of the inappropriate timing of his kind remarks, Curtis was right. 

Felicity Smoak was indeed a genius and a hero, and he loved her all the more for it, even if it was driving him crazy worrying about her safety now. He wondered how he can feel both proud of, and angry with, her at the same time. He knew they would need to have a serious talk when this is all over. In the meantime, he had to remain alert and focused on the job.

The blinking red dot showed that the SUV was headed in the direction of the Glades. When they closed in and were a safe fifty meters away, John, who was the one behind the wheel, spotted a dark gray SUV without a rear plate, up ahead.

“I have visual,” John informed them. “How do you wish to proceed?”

Oliver took a deep breath. Felicity was just fifty meters away. Every cell in his body ached to reach out for her and snatch her away from the perils that awaited her if they failed tonight. He wanted John to speed off, overtake the SUV and cut off the un-sub in transit, and extract Felicity as soon as possible. But Oliver was a seasoned agent. He knew that catching a lunatic serial killer by surprise in this way might drive him to maniacal or suicidal tendencies and that would jeopardize Felicity’s safety.

So he replied, “Just keep tailing him. Back-up and SCPD are on their way. Let him lead us to his lair where we can find more evidence to lock him away for good. We’ll plan a coordinated breach to extract the hostage and apprehend the un-sub when the rest of the team arrives on site.”

Oliver thought it strangely disconcerting to refer to the woman he loved as a generic hostage. He had to remain composed and as objective as possible about all this. He knew that as soon as the FBI director gets word that one of the members of his team – his rumored girlfriend, of all people – had been taken, Director Michaels would not hesitate for a moment to take him out of command. He was trying to stay calm and clear-headed for his sake, and hers, but any type of provocation from the un-sub they were now trailing might set him on edge.

* * *

After more than a half hour later, the extraction team led by Oliver successfully breached the Star City Slayer’s secret hideout in the Glades. The deranged murderer was caught in the act, having already gagged Felicity’s mouth and tied her up on a metal table, where she lay dressed down only in her underwear in the freezing cold of the dark, dank, and despicably stinking basement of an abandoned foundry. The un-sub attempted to escape, climbing a wooden table to get out through an open window. But Agent Diggle and a few others were already waiting outside, and when the un-sub attempted to fight back by pulling out a gun, John did not hesitate to shoot.

Of course, as soon as the un-sub made a mad dash for the window, Oliver was the first one that ran down the rickety stairway to Felicity’s aid. He cut her loose of her bonds and removed that gag that covered her mouth. When his blue eyes met hers, he could see the tears in her eyes. They were tears of relief, not terror or fear. How proud he was of his beautiful, brave, and brilliant girl.

As soon as she could speak, she said to him with a mildly trembling voice, “I knew you’d come. I made sure of it.”

“Shh… It’s okay. You’re okay. I’m here now,” he whispered softly in her ear as he enveloped her cold, shaking, and almost naked body with his larger and warmer frame. He helped her sit up on the metal table, but he let her rest for a while, shielding her with his body from the line of sight of the other two agents who were behind him and the other police officers that were now arriving at the scene. He motioned for a female officer to go and get her a blanket from the paramedics on standby outside.

Soon, they were cleared to leave the scene. The paramedics that advised Felicity to get herself checked by doctors in the hospital offered to carry her to the waiting FBI vehicle on a portable gurney, but she declined. Oliver himself carried her off the table, bridal style, careful not to let the blanket that covered her shivering body fall off her. They got into the FBI vehicle, with Agent Diggle on the driver’s seat, and soon, they left the horrific crime scene behind.

A minute or two passed silently by, and then Felicity looked up to see Oliver gazing lovingly at her. The tension on his face was evident, but the relief and affection in his eyes were undeniably there. He smiled warmly at her and pulled her closer to his side with his arm.

“I’m sorry,” Felicity said to him apologetically.

“You don’t owe me an apology, Felicity,” Oliver replied. “You did what you had to do as an agent. You followed your gut, and you ended up saving Agent Lance’s life.”

“Oh, I’m not sorry for that,” she clarified, smirking slightly in her defense. “I’m sorry that I had you worried when I decided that I had to step in and help. I did help, didn’t I?”

“You certainly did,” he answered, kissing the tip of her nose. “I’m not mad at you for making me worry. And I’m not mad that you deliberately disobeyed a direct order, even though I should be. But we are going to have a serious talk when things have settled down.” She nodded, smiling sweetly at him. “We have to agree on certain ground rules between the two of us, so that the next time you go running off saving people’s lives or playing the hero in the field, we know better what to expect of each other.”

Her smile widened because, no matter how traumatizing her recent experience had just been, her heart soared inside her upon hearing his words. He wasn’t mad at her. He, finally, understood. She saw in his eyes that he finally _saw her_ as more than a woman to him, which made her look at him as more than a man to her.

Hmm… It looked like they were not about to break up anymore.

“So… I guess _us_ being a mistake isn’t a mistake after all?” Felicity dared to ask.

Oliver grinned and answered, “Definitely not.” And then he dipped his chin, lowering his lips to meet hers. She opened up, allowing him to deepen the kiss a bit further. She moaned at the overwhelming feeling of comfort that his kiss gave her after such an ordeal. The sound made him smile. 

Pulling away, she added, “Definitely not.”

Being that close to her, Oliver noticed for the first time the nasty bruise on her right cheek and the small cut just below her right eyebrow. She noticed him starting to fuss over her minor injury and said, “I put up a hell of a fight.”

“I know. We found your glasses there. The scene was a mess.” He was exaggerating, sure, but he wanted to her to know how proud he was of her.

“I almost had him, you know. Thought he was down for the count, but when I came near to check him out, he pulled out a taser gun. Cheater.”

“Well, that only means you have more reason to keep training, Agent Smoak,” he teased.

“Fine by me,” she responded, a tad bit flirtatiously, under the circumstances, “as long as you’re the one doing it.”

“We start as soon as your bruises heal,” he told her, feigning sternness. He then winked at her suggestively.

“Duly noted, sir,” came her reply, and then she gave him a peck on the lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would love to know your comments and feedback to this fic. Thank you for reading!  
> This WIP wrapped, three more to go.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you are interested in seeing this story to completion?


End file.
